Understanding Karma Yoga of Bhagavad Gita

Most of us have heard of the law of karma, which is described by familiar sayings like, “what goes around comes around,” and “as you sow, so shall you reap.”

We engage in certain activities and we get certain results. But karma yoga is different. It is not a practice where one seeks the fruits of their labor, rather by using one's activities in the service of the Supreme Lord, and all of His children, a person can pave the way for true peace and harmony in their life.

The great warrior Arjuna found himself in an impossible dilemma on the Battlefield of Kurukshetra. Not knowing what to do, he turned to Lord Krishna for guidance. Arjuna was then instructed that inaction wasn’t a solution, nor was false renunciation.

In our lives, action is unavoidable, so we must choose to either act in a way that binds us to this material world, or liberates us from it. By acting in the service of the Supreme Lord without attachment to the results or fruits of one’s work, in other words to follow the path of karma yoga, one becomes free from karmic reaction.

Our actions can either bind us to the wheel of birth and death or liberate us from it. By working in the spirit of service and devotion (i.e. karma yoga), we become free from karmic reaction and begin to awaken our inherent wisdom and spiritual love.

Following a very insightful series of lectures on the subject of karma yoga, international yoga meditation teacher Acharya das responded to several questions that arose during the live-streaming of the series.